New charging points - Yesterday the UK Government launched a £30 million grant scheme to promote the installation of charging points for plug-in electric cars. This is a good thing, yes? Well not according to Steve Holliday, the Chief Executive of the National Grid. Not without other improvements. Basically, if we are relying on a future of wind power and electric cars, the unreliability of the supply combined with peak demand could result in a massive network failure.
Before we tackle the downside, what has the Government proposed?
The Government plans for Plugged in-Places - up to six cities or regions with charging points for electric cars. They are looking for public / private partnerships to compete for £30million worth of grants which it is hoped will be matched by private investment. Lord Adonis is quoted as saying: "Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature of life on UK’s roads in less than five years,” Amen, to that!
The installation of charging points has proved expensive, part of the reason we have seen so few outside London (although there are other issues). It is hoped these grants will help to kick start things.
So, onto the potential problems?
Say in 2020 we have around 1.5 million electric cars on UK roads. This is an annual demand of 6 terrawatt hours or one large power station running 24 hours. Basically, Steve Holliday says we need a smart grid with smart meters in homes and intelligent charging systems to balance supply and demand.
The worst case scenario he sees is at a peak demand in the early evening when millions of commuters return home with their electric vehicles. They then put them all on charge. The solution is a more flexible approach to using electric car batteries combined with a 'smart meter' or some form of intelligent charging system. What is envisaged is a household being able send power from what remains in the electric car battery (if electric cars have a range of 60-80 miles, potentially only half of this will have been used in the daily commute) to the grid between 5pm and 7pm, when lighting, heating and domestic appliance use creates peak demand. The power flow would then reverse during the night when the battery would be charged up cheaply at low electricity tariffs ready for the early morning commute.
The electriccarsite blog has already touched on this as the way forward for electric car charging technology.
We also think this should go a step further. What power remains in the battery should, first and foremost be used to power the individual household, then any excess sent to the grid. Some quotes for installing smart meters are coming in at some £500 per household (Ernst & Young). Putting a £9bn price tag on connecting the whole UK!! This is not cheap but should be part of an overall metering system installed in homes to allow careful monitoring of power usage.